I am fairly certain my bees are on persimmon and that honey is coming out pretty light. The trees have flowers that look like persimmon flowers but they are much larger than what I see persimmon growing on. We live in a pecan grove and the bees never visit them. The Chinese tallow is coming in bloom now, it's a bit darker honey but I am looking for the real dark stuff. I wish I could grow buckwheat here.

I am fairly certain my bees are on persimmon and that honey is coming out pretty light. The trees have flowers that look like persimmon flowers but they are much larger than what I see persimmon growing on. We live in a pecan grove and the bees never visit them. The Chinese tallow is coming in bloom now, it's a bit darker honey but I am looking for the real dark stuff. I wish I could grow buckwheat here.

from what i've read persimmon is almost clear. why can't you grow buckwheat?

All I can tell you now is most coming in now is light stuff and clover is still in bloom down south and privet too. I believe goldenrod is a dark producer but not all like the taste including me but they harvest some stuff that taste like molasses and I have folks love the stuff but am curious as to what the forage on to produce it myself.Blanc

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Psalm 19:9-10The fear of the Lord is clean,enduring forever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.More to be desired are they than gold, yea ,than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

All I can tell you now is most coming in now is light stuff and clover is still in bloom down south and privet too. I believe goldenrod is a dark producer but not all like the taste including me but they harvest some stuff that taste like molasses and I have folks love the stuff but am curious as to what the forage on to produce it myself.Blanc

there may still be some white clover blooming around here somewhere but crimson has been out. privet came and went in less than three weeks and that kind of surprised me because i remember years where it bloomed well into june. sumac is wide open about 20 miles east of my bees but doesn't show any sign of getting ready around my place. my bees are just bearding and bringing in a little pollen at the moment.

Avocado produces a dark honey with greenish tint. Avocado nectar contains a substantial fraction of a unique 7-carbon sugar, persitol. I don't believe honeybees can metabolize the sugar or have an enzyme to rearrange it. Avocado also have abundant phenolic compounds in the nectar (usually associated with dark honeys).

Avocado honey was rejected on a commercial scale, due to the USDA grading that favored water-white clover honey. It recently has been marketed as a special crop. It is less sweet than other honeys due to the persitol (which is not "tasted" as sweet on the tongue). The milder sweetness allows the other flavors to be recognized.

Bees are used to pollinate California Avocado -- (in the late spring bloom). Pollination requires well distributed hives, since bees will move off the trees if nearby wildflowers are present. In the past, the honey was held off the hive and used to stimulate (fed back) to splits for the melon pollination / citrus honey production following the Avocado bloom. Some is now being collected for the "boutique" market, helped by the intense marketing campaigning that Avocado's benefit from.

It should be recognized that Avocado evolved in the absence of honeybees, and the nectar composition was likely selected to attract a co-evolved Central American small stingless bees that could selectively use the unique sugar component

I believe some of the other unique honey's may be parallel to Avocado in dominance of unique sugars and co-evolution with a specialized pollinator. An extreme case might be Protea that are pollinated by rodents and have nectar consisting of 39% xylose -- completely undigestible to bees (and hence toxic), but easily broken down by the Namaqua rock mouse which is the pollinator.

I planted some buckwheat and also purple top turnips. I was late planting so the buckwheat will have the temps that you normally see when it finally comes up. Does the heat kill your buckwheat before the bloom appears?

Yes, it kills it off pretty quick. I have never tried planting it very early though. But then I am kind of gambling on whether or not it will be warm enough for the bees to be out foraging. The weather here is pretty crazy sometimes.

I planted some buckwheat and also purple top turnips. I was late planting so the buckwheat will have the temps that you normally see when it finally comes up. Does the heat kill your buckwheat before the bloom appears?

isn't it a few weeks early to plant buckwheat here, or no? most people I know plant it to allow the frost to kill it off for weed control after like 6-8 weeks.

I planted some buckwheat and also purple top turnips. I was late planting so the buckwheat will have the temps that you normally see when it finally comes up. Does the heat kill your buckwheat before the bloom appears?

i planted 50 pounds three weeks go today and it's blooming as of wednesday. highs are in the mid 90's right now but we've had a ton of rain and my ground holds moisture really well just below the surface so that may be why it's standing the heat.